Conventional wisdom wranglers were quick to toss the presidential public financing system into an early grave a few months back, now here's an interesting take on what may bring the system back from the brink: a crazy-long campaign season driving candidates into debt.

Boy, John Edwards has taken the public financing ball and run with it. In the Concord Monitor piece about a campaign stop Edwards made in New Hampshire he uses his time on the stump to underline his opposition to campaign donations from lobbyists, and his support for public financing of federal campaigns.

Our own Nancy Watzman bursts the bubble of small-donor hype that's grown around this presidential election cycle. Read her entry at The Huffington Post, part of an ongoing campaign analysis series called "Off the Bus," to learn why the rise of the small donor is dwarfed beside ongoing big donor dominance.

The Midwest Democracy Network has a question for the 2008 slate of presidential candidates: what will you do to strengthen our democracy? They've sent a questionnaire, which you can read here, to the candidates asking for their positions on issues like public financing of presidential and congressional races, to voter registration, to what should be done about the "revolving door" between Congress and the lobby sector.

The Nation is held a student writing contest and one of the five finalists, Ned Resnikoff, a high school student from Middletown, Connecticut wrote this piece on the presidential race, and what he terms the "political third rail" of curtailing the power of corporations, and the influence they exert on elections and policy.

Senator and presidential candidate Chris Dodd was on NPR's On Pointlast night for an extended question and answer session with callers primarily from Iowa and New Hampshire. Towards the end of the program, a caller from Ames, Iowa asked for Dodd's position on public financing of elections, in particular the Fair Elections Now Act sponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin and Arlen Specter. Listen to the clip here.

The occasion of John Edwards' decision to use public financing for his presidential bid, and the subsequent chin-wagging about what a risk this is, prompts USA Todayto express displeasure that the public financing program has fallen behind the times, and to urge the federal government to take a cue from the states and move towards a Clean Elections model for presidential races.

Continuing on their quest to make elections about money instead of voters, the Center for Competitive Politics has a letter published in DC newspaper, The Hill, this morning about the need for higher limits on campaign contributions.

In the letter, Mike Schrimpf states, "increasing contribution limits, or eliminating them entirely, would greatly diminish the need for bundlers."

Curious about what John Edwards' decision to opt in to the presidential public financing program means in terms of his fundraising requirements, spending limits he must abide with, and potential concerns should he win the party nomination? Lawyer Adam Bonin sums it up at the Daily Kos -- very helpful for giving some context to concerns all candidates face with the current public financing set-up.